Be the Best:
Become a PADI Professional

To become a PADI Pro, you must first complete the PADI Divemaster course which will hone your scuba diving skills and prepare you to assist scuba instructors and supervise diving activities. Next, you can go on to become a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI), to build on your Divemaster knowledge and develop your teaching skills.

PADI offers both recreational and professional dive certifications, with over 30,000,000 divers and counting. With a PADI professional scuba certification you can travel the world and do what you love or share your dive knowledge locally. As a PADI Divemaster or PADI Instructor, you’ll learn how to lead scuba dives and help others with their dive education.

One of the main reasons why the majority of dive instructors are PADI Instructors is the high-quality instructional curriculum designed to accommodate students at various levels with different learning styles. PADI Instructor Trainers (Course Directors) are some of the dive industry’s most experienced and elite scuba instructors.

Parts of the PADI Instructor Development Courses (IDC) will be easy for some and challenging for others. PADI Divemaster course is the first step to becoming a PADI professional. After 6 months with this certification and 60 logged dives you can enroll in PADI IDC. 100 logged dives are needed for the Instructor Examination. Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care (CPR and First Aid) training is also required within the past 24 months.

PADI Divemasters typically assist dive instructors with classes and lead certified divers on underwater adventures. If they work at a dive shop, Divemasters often fill scuba tanks, load scuba gear, check-in divers and help with other essential tasks. Divemasters may also:

• Assist PADI Instructors with training and non-training diving activities
• Lead Discover Local Diving programs
• Accompany certified PADI Scuba Divers and Open Water Divers on dives
• Assist PADI Instructors with Discover Scuba Diving® (DSD) programs
• Help scuba divers refresh their skills with the PADI ReActivate® program
• Teach Discover Snorkeling and PADI Advanced Snorkeler

If you're at least 18 years old and meet the prerequisites listed above, it's possible to become a PADI Divemaster in 2 very intense weeks. Most Divemaster candidates complete their training over 3 weeks to 6 months.

PADI professional scuba instructors work all over the world in a variety of jobs. How much you earn as a PADI dive instructor depends on where and what you are teaching.

For example:

• You might live and work on a liveaboard boat (where meals are included, and you also have a place to live).
• At a local dive shop, you might get paid extra for selling scuba gear or repairing scuba equipment.
• Experienced scuba instructors with a boat captain’s license can make very good money working on a superyacht and teaching private scuba lessons.
• It’s also important to consider the personal benefits of completing Divemaster or dive instructor training. One of the most common comments from PADI Pros is how their training helped them succeed in the “real world”.

Scuba diving jobs offer fantastic travel opportunities and a great way of life. They can also pay well. If making money doing what you love sounds like a dream job to you, it’s time to become a professional diver. Here are some high paying jobs for scuba divers. 

• Military Diving & Police Diving
• Oil Rig Diving
• HAZMAT Diving
• Inland Commercial Diving
• Scientific Diving
• Underwater Construction
• Aquatic Performing Arts
• Safety Diver for Film & Television 

A professional scuba diver’s income can vary based on location, experience, and the type of diving. Entry-level dive instructors might earn around $1,000–$2,000 USD per month, while experienced pros working at popular dive resorts or on liveaboards can earn significantly more. Many also supplement their income with tips, equipment sales, or teaching specialty courses. It’s a lifestyle-driven career that offers rich rewards beyond just a paycheck.